From The Detroit Free Press:
It took more than ordinary foolishness to turn down a deal that would have moved a negative-value asset like Cobo Hall off Detroit's books, preserved the city's say-so over its future, and leveraged regional money for a much needed upgrade and renovation.The article goes on to note that this "jewel" of Detroit is costing the City at least $15 million a year not to mention Cobo is in bad need of maintenance that has been deferred by the city. Cobo also needs to be expanded to be competitive as a convention center. Detroit can't afford to do it alone, but instead of having to give up some control and have to provide accountability to others who are going to be ponying up serious cash Detroit City Council started playing the race card and rejected the deal.
But then, there's just nothing ordinary about the Detroit City Council.
Invoking twisted logic, outright falsehoods and shameless fear-mongering, five members of the council actually tanked the Cobo deal Tuesday while braying loudly about their fidelity to city interests.
It's about ownership, they said. It's about not "giving away" city assets. It's about making sure Detroiters have a strong enough say in Cobo's future.
Hogwash.....
Sort of like destroying the "jewel" in order to save it.
So what do these luminaries of the Detroit City Council now propose? -grab a share of the Stimulus money to be given to Detroit to expand Cobo, with no accountability of course.
The council did pass a new resolution, introduced by Conyers, to get federal stimulus funds to fund a $400 million expansion and upgrade for the city’s convention center.
It is to weep.
4 comments:
This is the same crap they did during the Coleman Young years when they city was drowning in red ink. It was proposed that a regional authority be created to oversee Belle Isle, Fort Wayne, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the zoo, and a few other "city jewels". They city could literally not afford to run them and the new compact would have shared the operating costs with the other participating suburbs.
But Coleman Young and the council said "we'll close all those things first!" and they did. Belle Isle has never recovered, libraries closed, Fort Wayne has never re-opened, and the DIA went to part-time hours and rotating galleries, all because they didn't want to take Detroit's name off of these operations and share credit (as well as cost) with the suburbs.
Detroitus Incompititus
A fatal urban disease. Detroit is ground zero. The hot spot.
And that much worse because this is ALL race-based.
So much for an end to racial politics. Guess that only goes for SOME of us.
--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com
Take some of that stimulus money and build a fence around Detroit that will keep the idiots in, then knock down or refurbish the Silverdome to be your regional convention center. If Detroit doesn't want the business and the tax revenue, give it to someone who does!
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